Tanak leads in Finland as Neuville, Ogier fail to get grip

Ott Tanak led the Rally of Finland on Friday after world championship leaders Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier struggled for grip on the loose gravel tracks which confronted the early starters. Estonian driver Ott Tanak in action on Friday. (Photo: AFP/Markku Ulander) Ott Tanak led the Rally of Finland on Friday after world championship leaders Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier struggled for grip on the loose gravel tracks which confronted the early starters. Estonia’s Tanak, who had snatched the opening super stage on Thursday night, was third to start on Friday, taking advantage of Neuville and five-time world champion Ogier ‘cleaning’ the forest road ahead of him. Toyota driver Tanak, who won the Rally of Argentina earlier this season, ended the day with a 5.8sec lead over Norway’s Mads Ostberg in a Citroen and 23sec in front of Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala in another Toyota. Ogier is sixth in his M-Sport Ford, almost a minute off the pace with championship leader Neuville down in 10th, at 1min 57sec behind Tanak. “Thierry had the worst conditions, but they were also very bad for us,” said Ogier. Eight special stages will be raced on Saturday over a total of 142.9km. AFP